Meerkat Manor: Rise of the Dynasty

An unforgiving, sun-baked, desert in southern Africa

is a tough place to raise a family.

But there are some...

...who are perfectly suited to it.

At the turn of the millennium a legend was born here.

Scientists named her Flower.

As matriarch, she grew her family...

...leading them through good times...

and bad...

...to become the most successful leader of her kind,

loved the world over.

Like all living things, when her time was done,

the desert's rose returned to the earth.

But every great leader leaves a legacy...

And now the time has come to pick up the story...

with her great-granddaughters...

as they strive to lead their own families

through the daily struggles of life in the Kalahari.

The rising sun takes the chill off a cold Kalahari night.

Mornings are full of promise...

and the Whiskers are gearing up to start a new day.

This has been the Whiskers' home for more than twenty years.

Swift is now head of the family,

and like all dominant females here,

wears a radio collar as her crown.

To lead is to serve,

and this steadfast leader has served her family well

for the past five years.

Life hasn't always been easy.

The Great Drought of 2015 almost wiped out the Whiskers.

There were just three survivors

but, from the devastation,

Swift set about rebuilding the dynasty -

just as her great-grandmother Flower did

three generations before her.

The Whiskers now number a respectable fifteen.

As matriarch, it's Swift's duty

to ensure her family keeps growing...

...and three weeks ago, she gave birth to her thirteenth litter!

Triplets!

Hachi, Laika... and Fly

have been kept safely underground

and today they're seeing daylight for the first time.

It's Swift's job to produce pups

but it will be the responsibility

of the whole family to raise them.

All three are female... which means

there could be a feisty future leader amongst them.

Swift must balance motherhood with her other duties as leader.

Still too young to leave the burrow,

the pups will stay home with a trusted babysitter.

Today, that job falls to one of Swift's four eldest daughters,

Epsilon.

This working mum can now lead the rest of her family out

to find food ...

She'll be back just before sunset

to give the triplets their bedtime milk.

Swift has set the Whiskers up

in some of the best real estate around.

Their two square mile territory hardly looks like a desert.

Unusually high rainfall in this spot,

encourages all sorts of delicacies to the surface.

But you've got to be quick and dextrous to catch them!

Less than a mile from the ample greenery of Chez Whiskers

lies the smaller territory of their nearest neighbours...

...Hakuna Matata.

It means no worries but this family's got plenty.

Their dry scrubland stands in stark contrast

to Swift's bountiful paradise.

Finding nutritious meals in this dust bowl is hard work.

And compared with Swift, the leader of this family...

is a rookie.

Three-year-old, Flint Lockwood,

has been in charge of Hakuna Matata for less than a year.

She too is descended from Flower,

as Flint is the great-great grand-daughter

of the Kalahari's favourite rose.

With a gang of ten, mostly younger,

siblings under her command,

this beginner has her hands full.

Six weeks ago, Flint gave birth to her first litter as leader.

Her three girls and one boy are pretty demanding...

...but this morning

she's got a more immediate problem to deal with.

Her partner Finnick's head-bobbing

signals he's concerned about something.

Until they know how serious the problem is,

it's best to gather the pups together out of harm's way.

As the search team spreads out,

Flint's younger sister Sencha stumbles into trouble.

A sand snake is not the deadliest predator

but it's enough to raise an alarm...

The word is out.

Flint's other sister, Munchkin,

steps up to tackle the problem head on.

But snake-mobbing is best attempted

with a support team.

Tails up to make themselves look bigger, they crowd the snake -

heads bobbing and spit-calling in an attempt to force it away.

Outnumbered and overwhelmed,

the intruder turns tail and slinks off.

Flint could do without all this stress

first thing in the morning.

But at least everyone's safe for now.

The differing fortunes of Flower's descendants

may simply be down to chance.

As the temperature rises,

Swift allows her now well-fed family a welcome midday break.

Supervising playtime in the shade

is her long-term partner and father to all the kids, Brea.

At ten years old, he's knocking on a bit

although he still likes to join in the fun...

in a sedate kind of way.

Swift's partnership with Brea is full of affection

and has lasted longer than most.

Five glorious years together.

As everyone gets back to the grubby business of bug-hunting,

oldest son Lilac takes up look-out duty.

Like young men the world over,

Lilac has been slow to leave home.

But today the snaggle-toothed man child

is ready to answer the call of the wild'.

While no one's looking,

this would-be Romeo sneaks off in a different direction.

Roving is the destiny of every young male.

It's the desert equivalent of dating.

But to find love in the dunes, the inexperienced rover

will have to venture into enemy territory...

and if rival males catch him there, he'll be dead meat.

Transition Desert dating doesn't always end in disaster though.

It's how Hakuna Matata's leader Flint found her new man...

or rather, he found her.

Social climber Finnick came looking for love'

from a rival family a few months ago.

He spotted the vacancy for dominant male,

moved in, fathered Flint's pups